While the Sony Walkman NWZ-S738F (8GB, $179.99 direct; 4GB, $149.99) may have a slim new design and revamped control panel, its interface is nearly identical to that of its predecessor, the NWZ-S718F. The big selling point here, as with other Walkman players, is the built-in noise cancellation. While still not on a par with, say, Bose's excellent QuietComfort 3, noise-canceling headphones, the latest Walkman does a good job of reducing the din from outside noise while improving sound quality. When the included earphones are combined with the robust user-adjustable EQ, it's the best-sounding portable media player on the market. Too bad its user interface is so uninspiring.

The thinnest Walkman to date, the 1.6-ounce NWZ-S738F measures 3.5 by 1.7 by 0.3 inches (HWD). The front panel features the 2-inch, 320-by-240-pixel screen, two buttonsHome/Back and Power Off/Optionand a scroll-wheel-esque control with a Play/Pause button in the center. This control may look like a wheel, but it doesn't actually turnit just clicks in multiple directions for menu navigation. The Volume controls and a Hold switch are found on the right panel. The lower panel houses the earphone jack, a connection for the proprietary USB cable, and the Noise Cancellation On/Off switch.

While any pair of 'phones will work with the player, you need to use the included earphones to get the noise-cancellation features. The good news is that they're capable of smooth low end and crisp highsa rarity in the realm of bundled earphones. In the box you also get an airline jack adapter and an audio-out cable that uses a proprietary connector and terminates in a standard 3.5mm jack for aux inputs. There's also a plastic dock adapter, should you own a Walkman dock.

The user interface is the most disappointing experience on the new Walkman. There are some new features, like the SensMe Channels, which automatically organize your music into playlists like "morning" or "active." Most players these days can do something like this--iPod's Genius Playlists and Zune's personalized channels, for example. The big difference: Apple and Microsoft understand that a good-looking, simple, uncluttered user interface is half the battle when it comes to quality design. It's not that the Walkman doesn't work, it's just that navigation doesn't feel right. The controls can't match the flow of either the Zune's touchpad or the iPod nano's wheel, and the "Now Playing" screen focuses less on the album art than genre info. Do you really care that Sony has figured out that the New Pornographers should be classified as "Rock"?

Sony's S-series Walkman line supports MP3, protected and unprotected WMA, unprotected AAC, and linear PCM audio files. Protected and unprotected WMV, AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile, and MPEG-4 codecs are supported for video. Photo file support is limited to JPEG. It's a shame there's no lossless codec support (such as FLAC) on such a great-sounding player.

On the bright side, audio performance is excellent, thanks to the one-two punch of far-better-than-average earphones and the customizable EQ. Boosting the bass through these earphones delivers more low-end than you'll hear through any other portable media player's supplied earphones. Audio effects like "VPT (Surround)" and "Clear Stereo" may excite some listeners, but as always, I suggest leaving the effects off and listening to the music the way it was intended to be heard.

The NWZ-S738's noise-canceling circuitry is unique, since it's part of the player, not just the earphones. Like most lower-end noise-cancellation solutions, the NWZ-S738F decreases lower and middle frequency ambient sound but adds a bit of high-frequency hiss to the equation. The hiss, not unlike what you'd hear on an analog tape, is not particularly annoying, but it's not a sign of excellent noise cancellation, either. Because the noise-cancellation circuitry is attached to a great-sounding player, however, it's easy to forgive.

Video performance is similar to that of the latest iPod nano. Both players feature 2-inch screens with identical resolutions. It would be nice to see better video support, like for Xvid files, but the iPod isn't exactly a powerhouse of video compatibility, either. The difference is, of course, that iTunes sells content that's designed to work seamlessly with Apple players, and there's not really an equivalent for Sony's line. Loading the player is easy enough, but since Sony doesn't sell video content, it would be nice to see wider acceptance of alternative video codecs.

The FM radio works well, with a simple autoscan feature that fills your presets with stations that get reasonable reception. You can adjust the scanner sensitivity in the Settings menu. The limit for presets is 30, which is more than enough for most areas.

Sony rates the player's battery life at 40 hours for audio and 10 hours for videoboth far better than average results. We achieved 30.5 hours for audio on our rundown test. A solid number, but 25 percent short of Sony's estimate.

Overall, this player's greatest downfall is its price. It can't really be argued that the Walkman NWZ-S738F is more graceful than the iPod nano, which is thinner and a bit more user-friendly. It's difficult to justify the 8GB Walkman's $180 price tag when the same-capacity iPod nano costs just $150. In fact, for $20 more than the Walkman, you can purchase a 16GB nano. Of course, you might find noise cancellation an advantage for the Walkman over the iPod, which has no such featureand also bundles some pretty lousy earbuds. Though it's not a star, like the nano, the NWZ-S738F is worth your consideration if you exist outside of the iTunes "ecosystem."

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